Food and Restaurants

Taste

Cava restaurant opens in Wicker Park on Friday, announces future suburban location

Following its launch, the popular Mediterranean restaurant is set to open a second area outlet this summer in Vernon Hills.

By Erica Thompson

Back in 2020, the Castaways Bar and Grill located on North Avenue Beach was one of the few restaurants to reopen amid the COVID-19 shutdown.

Food and Restaurants

Castaways Beach Club, formerly Castaways Bar & Grill, closed for renovations last summer. A refresh features an updated menu and renovations costing more than $3 million.

By Jessica Ma

Chicago

Lou Malnati's aims to honor 10 teachers with a year of free pizza

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week next month, 10 winners will be awarded a free medium cheese pizza per week for a year in addition to a $250 catering package for their school.

By Sun-Times Wire

Small Business

Dom's Kitchen and Foxtrot abruptly shutter stores, months after specialty grocers merged

The store closings started Tuesday morning and include two Dom’s Kitchen sites and 33 Foxtrot locations.

By Abby Miller and Isabel Funk

Food and Restaurants

Two new Filipino eateries open in Chicago, adding to wave of restaurants offering fun spins on ube and longanisa

Being their own boss is key for these business owners, but also being there for their kids is just as important.

By Dorothy Hernandez

Tofu cut in cubes. Firm tofu on white plate. Vegan protein food.

Food and Restaurants

Firm, extra firm, silken — tofu types and how to prepare, serve them

Knowing how you want to cook it or use it in your favorite recipe will help you choose the right kind.

By Clare Mulroy | USA Today

Food and Restaurants

Caffeinated competition: World's best tasters grind in Chicago at Specialty Coffee Expo

The city is hosting its first World Coffee Championships — or the “coffee Olympics,” as one organizer put it — which cover a variety of java jousts, from tasting to brewing and latte art.

By Violet Miller

Obituaries

Hans Aeschbacher, beloved chef for Bulls, Blackhawks, dead at 80

As executive chef at the old Chicago Stadium and the United Center in the early 1990s, he cooked for athletes and their families as well as team owners. He later headed the kitchen for Smith & Wollensky and also worked at Chicago Cut Steakhouse.

By Mitch Dudek

PIZZA-041124 2.jpg. Mario Espinosa stands for a portrait at Michael’s Original Pizzeria in Buena Park on Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Mario has been the manager at Michael’s for 20+ years. | Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times

Food and Restaurants

Where do you find the best 'Chicago-style' pizza? Yelp says it's in California

Michael’s Original Pizzeria & Tavern in Uptown was the only Chicago pizzeria to break into the Top 10 on the list.

By Stefano Esposito

Chef and caterer Julius Russell holding a glass of red wine

Obituaries

Julius Russell, personal chef and caterer to Ye, Dwyane Wade, dies at 53

The Chicagoan quit a career in sales to pursue his dream of being a chef.

By Mitch Dudek

Springfield

Pritzker pitches grants to open new stores in food deserts

The governor announced the second phase of the Illinois Grocery Initiative, which includes a round of grant funding for new grocers in food deserts.

By Mariah Rush

Food and Restaurants

Green City Market opens 25th season earlier than ever, bringing thousands to Lincoln Park

The opening day for the market featured double the number of early season vendors, many of whom sold out in the market’s first few hours as crowds flocked to purchase farm fresh produce.

By Violet Miller

Columnists

Can hot honey pizza save Chicago?

Lou Malnati’s joins with Mike’s Hot Honey for a new take on deep-dish.

By Neil Steinberg

Food and Restaurants

4 Chicago restaurants, chefs among 2024 James Beard Award finalists

Seventeen local eateries/chefs had been nominated as semifinalists earlier this year.

By Miriam Di Nunzio

Food and Restaurants

Dan Pashman created a new shape of pasta, and his new cookbook expands pasta's possibilities

Pashman — a James Beard Award winner and Webby Award-winning podcaster behind The Sporkful — got to work creating mind-bending pasta dishes,.

By Mark Kennedy | AP Entertainment Writer

A bowl of ramen noodles with chopsticks and green onions, with steam rising from the bowl. Generative AI

Taste

Simply delicious — The Asian noodles Americans are crushing on

Americans’ appetite for noodles is substantial — to the tune of 5.95 billion pounds of them consumed each year.

By Food Drink Life

Consumer Affairs

What's a good egg? Learn what free range, cage free really mean on labels

Understanding the different labels on egg cartons can be confusing with some descriptions even misleading, according to experts.

By Aidan Sadovi | For the Sun-Times

Food and Restaurants

Clark Street closure for outdoor dining 'pending mayoral review,' Ald. Reilly says

A stretch of Clark Street between Grand Avenue and Kinzie Street has been a hotbed for Chicago’s outdoor dining program, but its future remains uncertain.

By Abby Miller

Beverly Kim and her husband Johnny Clark are photographed inside their Avondale-based restaurant Parachute.|

Food and Restaurants

Parachute Hi-Fi set opening this summer from chefs Beverly Kim, Johnny Clark

Offering “high-fidelity sound [and] creative Korean American cuisine,” the casual bar and restaurant will be retrofitted into what previously was their Parachute restaurant on Elston Avenue.

By Miriam Di Nunzio

Food and Restaurants

Heinz ketchup dispensers going up in famously anti-ketchup Chicago — starting outside the Wieners Circle

The company wants to support what it calls the silent majority of ketchup lovers by placing small ketchup-dispensing billboards outside restaurants that don’t serve the brand.

By David Struett